Monarch of Evernight - Chapter 571

Chapter 571: 571

Chapter 571: New Battles [V6C101 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

Fortunately, Song Zining had also established an efficient management system . Song Hu and Duan Hao were both adept in general affairs . Those who had been following Qianye like Lil’ Seven, Lil’ Nine, and bloodline seedlings like the Wu Shiying siblings were also maturing by the day—they had a perfect command of their duties . All of this saved Qianye from too much embarrassment .

The days of peace didn’t last very long . An imperial emissary soon arrived to deliver the recruitment notice . Qianye’s name wasn’t in the military department’s register since he was still registered in the expeditionary army system and hadn’t officially joined the Zhao clan private army . As such, the recruitment order was of a voluntary type .

The recruitment offered a fair degree of freedom—should Qianye choose to go, he would have the freedom to choose a warzone to fight in . He would also be allowed to join any of the major army corps, or join an aristocratic private army to fight in their name .

Presently, the geography of the void landmass had been more or less ascertained and divided into seven warzones . Moreover, these areas were currently unoccupied . According to imperial tradition, a third of all the land conquered and held onto until the end of the war would become the pioneer’s property .

A new, empty territory was a highly attractive prospect for any aristocratic family . One had to know that opening up new territory was at the top of military contributions . Toward the end of this war, new aristocratic families might spring up, landowning households could be promoted to aristocracy, and even a major clan might emerge .

To those with ambitions, this seven-province-wide void landmass was a stairway to heaven .

Qianye was already well-prepared by the time he received the recruitment order . He had already made ample preparations in Blackflow City and had nothing left to worry about . As such, he boarded a military airship with the emissary that very evening .

The airship didn’t travel straight toward imperial territory . It made several stops and detours to pick up other people on Evernight Continent before heading into the void .

There were seven passengers on the airship including Qianye, each and every one of them possessing profound auras . These people had also received similar recruitment orders since they didn’t belong to any aristocratic clan or regular army corps . Two of them were reportedly from the expeditionary army, but Qianye had never heard of their names before . Even their garrisoned warzones sounded rather unfamiliar .

The atmosphere inside the airship was gloomy, not unlike the lull before the storm . No one in the cabin exchanged pleasantries and only scanned each other with sharp gazes from time to time .

It couldn’t be seen on Qianye’s face, but Qianye was secretly on-alert since stepping through the cabin doors . He could smell, from these people, an aura similar to his own—it was the strong scent of slaughter . There was actually a rank-fifteen champion among them . Solely in terms of origin power-level, he was already at the level of a lieutenant general, right up there with the vice-commander-in-chief of the expeditionary army .

In a barren land like Evernight Continent, a champion was enough to lead a division and act as the pillar of a city or warzone . Surprisingly, there were so many unknown experts here . This went to show that the expeditionary army and the local landowning classes weren’t as weak as they seemed . This discovery caused Qianye to become more vigilant .

The airship flew several days amidst the stifling atmosphere, traversing the remote void and finally arriving at the imperial mainland .

Qianye walked out of the airship into an incomparably bustling world where the roar of engines almost drowned out all the other sounds . There were dozens of airships around him with soldiers currently moving in and out of them . In the distant sky, hundreds of war vessels were shuttling about .

“Get off! Stop tarrying!” A lieutenant colonel howled from the ground, waving his hand frantically at Qianye’s group .

The man was using his maximum volume since, otherwise, his voice would’ve been drowned out by the engine sounds . Qianye was rather understanding of this fact and didn’t mind the lack of manners . He simply walked over to the designated location to report in .

But not everyone was as easygoing . The one who had come out from behind Qianye was a rank-twelve champion, a rank capable of leading two army corps in the expeditionary army . That person stood in front of the lieutenant colonel with narrowed eyes and glared at the latter’s throat with a cold, venomous gaze . It was as though his hand would pierce into those green veins at a moment’s notice .

But the lieutenant colonel wasn’t afraid at all, and there was even a hint of disdainful provocation in his eyes . He spat loudly and sneered, “What? You wish to attack me? You’re welcome to try!”

That champion flew into a rage, and even his expression grew rather twisted . He produced a wisp of origin power from his fingertips amidst the sizzling sound of corrosive venom . However, he decided against taking action in the end and only shot a fierce glance at the military emblem on the soldier’s chest .

The lieutenant colonel had no intention of stopping at all . He spat again, and this time, it almost hit the other party’s glistening shoes . “So you do have some sense! Your entire family will die without a burial if you dare touch me!”

The champion’s face was livid as he glared deeply at the lieutenant colonel and left in large strides .

The latter’s rank wasn’t high, and his combat strength was also mediocre . But his identity was quite sensitive since he was an officer in the employ of the imperial military . No matter how powerful people like Qianye were, there would always be reasons as to why they were hiding on Evernight Continent .

Qianye had neither the intention of getting himself involved nor did he want to watch the liveliness . He simply walked away on his own to the report-in area reserved for generals . There were only a handful of people there, so Qianye’s turn arrived very quickly .

The plump lieutenant colonel behind the desk flipped through the register for quite a while after Qianye reported his recruitment number . He eventually found Qianye’s data with some difficulty and scanned through it briefly . Then, he shot up from his desk and asked in a delighted voice, “You’re General Qianye?”

“It is I . ”

The lieutenant colonel was all smiles as he said, “Shiduo is my brother! He’s mentioned more than once about how you saved him on Evernight Continent . Please tell me if there’s anything you need during your stay here, our Zhang clan does have some say here . ”

Qianye was somewhat startled . This lieutenant colonel was clearly not so young and already looked to be about fifty years old . If he hadn’t broken through the champion rank at this point, there was very little hope for it afterward . It would also appear that he was clear about his situation . Just from the clear outline of this belly, it was quite clear that he had already given up on cultivation .

Who would’ve thought that valiant Zhang Shiduo would have such a brother? And their age difference wasn’t small . either .

Regardless, Qianye naturally wouldn’t refuse a friendly gesture . With the war looming over the horizon, every bit of help—even if it was just providing information—was a good thing to have .

That lieutenant colonel introduced himself as Zhang Shiming . He had served the imperial military for over twenty years . His combat strength was mediocre and his future was limited, but his Zhang clan background and tactful personality opened many doors .

Zhang Shiming recalled, after talking for a good while, that he hadn’t finished his main business . He quickly registered Qianye’s information and passed him a booklet, as well as an identity token . Afterward, he brought out a simple map of the camp and said, “General, your residence is here . ”

Qianye checked the location and found that the generals’ residences were in a fairly good location . The barracks was built around a small lake, and there was also a forest to the side .

“Thank you . ” Qianye put the things away and left for his own barracks .

The dormitory’s location was quite good, with a wide view and the gleaming lake surface just outside the window . But as this was a military camp, the facilities inside weren’t luxurious at all—everything was limited to the bare necessities . Qianye had never paid much heed to these things since he would only be here for a couple of days . He would have to go to war as soon as he was assigned to a mission .

Qianye put down his small luggage . All the miscellaneous items apart from East Peak and Thunderbolt had been packed into a single tactical backpack . Naturally, his real stash of rations was in Andruil’s Mysterious Realm, and it was enough to last him an entire month out in the wild .

Afterward, Qianye opened the small booklet and began reading in detail . This pamphlet was printed quite recently and contained the map of the void landmass . Although a lot of the details were missing, the main regions had all been drawn in .

It was easy to accomplish this . Expansion and exploration on the void landmass never stopped even after the imperial army withdrew from Giant’s Repose . Later on, they had dispatched a number of small elite squads to scout out the land . This rough map was the fruit of the reconnaissance units’ extensive efforts and sacrifice; the casualty rate among them was as high as thirty percent .

The empire had destroyed the tunnel connecting Giant’s Repose to the void landmass, so the only way to get there was via airship .

The pressure sapping constantly at the experts’ origin power vanished after Prince Greensun destroyed the remnant will of the Void Colossus Chaos . Now, airships could finally land on it .

The floating continent was located between the upper and middle continents, closer to imperial lands . The Dark Nation continents were quite a distance away . This also meant that the empire held a distinct advantage in landing airships on it .

At this point, Qianye suddenly realized the reason behind the capture of Giant’s Repose and why the empire was so interested in the strange world behind it . All of his questions were answered at this moment .

It would seem the well-prepared empire had gained the upper-hand over the Evernight Council with its apparently inferior information system . Their bases on the floating continent were destined to be lost after the destruction of the tunnel behind Giant’s Repose .

The gap in airship technology between the Evernight Council and the empire wasn’t that big to begin with . Evernight’s four major races emphasized on training experts for war—when needed, the vampires would produce blood thralls and the arachne would use their servspiders . As for demonkin, they rarely ever amassed soldiers . Werewolves, on the other hand, would appear in the form of tribes . Under such situations, the dark races paid little attention to low-ranking warriors . They were even less inclined to invest resources on large machinery used specifically to assemble these inferior fighting forces .

Qianye flipped to the next section of the booklet . Their objective this time was to clean out the aboriginal lifeforms on the floating continent and defend against dark race attacks .

Apart from the border defenses forces, all of the other imperial army corps would take turns to ascend this continent and join the war . At the same time, the major clans had been assigned corresponding primary attack positions in order to maximize combat strength—the four major clans would be responsible for one warzone each . Several other aristocratic families, like the Nangong, would be assigned together to one warzone .

As for the other aristocracy, they would be allowed to choose whichever warzone they wanted .

Qianye put down the booklet slowly and walked to the other side of the room . There, he saw a hundred-meter long airship descending slowly at the extremes of his vision . Mountains of supplies had piled up beside the airship port, and even the endless, snaking motorcade couldn’t quite ship them away on time .

The massive airship was the empire’s largest Roc-class airship that could transport thousands of soldiers in a single run . And there were seven or eight more of such vessels circling in the air, awaiting their turn to land .